Father's Day is The Gift. June 21st. 2026

   It's our day.  Father's day.  For fathers like me, that is pretty well everyday.  I realize not all fathers have had the experience I have had.   I know choices come with consequences.  I was in a job for a very long time that had me doing some things to which others shy away.  But the job gave me some things that are really worth having.  There is no such thing as a life without pressure, or challenges, or worries.  But I had a good paying secure job that afforded me a decent retirement at a fairly early age.  And all I had to do was get to that age.  

  A cops life isn't constant danger.  It isn't overly exciting and it isn't glamorous or romantic.  It is often staying up long long hours.  Spending endless nights driving around alone.  (Singing at the top of your lungs to the radio, or doing interviews with the press about the game winning drive you have day dreamed.)  The routine is often interrupted by something kinda horrific, or sad, or terrifying, or confrontational.  And that's kinda what keeps us in it.  

  But I didn't have worries like some dads.  Like where the kids are going to sleep.  Or where they are going to eat.  Or where monies for registration for sports and other recreational programs will come.  I didn't have to look for my kids who have gone missing.  Or tried to get them into rehab.  Or watched some horrible disease take them.  Come to being a dad, I had it pretty good.

  To begin with, My kids had a great mother.  A mother who gave them most of what they needed.  Back in the day, I worked a lot of night shifts.  In fact a uniform cops life is mostly comprised of shifts between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.   My better half worked mostly day shifts.  So it wasn't uncommon for me to prepare our evening meal before I headed out on the street.  Mom would come home and enter the kitchen.  In what I referred to as the pre-supper hover, My teens would circle the kitchen island waiting for their chance to report to mom on the days events, or a tough class, or a broken heart.  Mom gave them what they needed, which was her time and attention.  

   Some fathers don't have that kind of partner.  It would make the world of difference.  But more than once I have witnessed fathers step up and somehow fill that gap.  Learn how to tutor math, comb hair, read stories.  I have watched them cook meals, and make washing dishes a family event.  There are more dads that step up, or switch caps than there are deadbeats.  And I sincerely hope their fathers day is every bit as good as mine.

   Dads don't require gifts.  Truth be told, dads pretty much buy themselves anything they want.  Be it a car, or a tool, or (dating myself here) a stereo or today's equivalent.  Dads just need to hear it.  Happy fathers day.  They want to barbecue the family a burger.  They want to watch some sport on t.v. with another fan of similar stripe.  Dad's don't need a lot on fathers day.   Cause every day is father's day for most of us.  It is a pretty great job really.  And the things that make it easy are the things that can be hard.  

   While families celebrate dad, Dad celebrates family.  Best father's day gift ever.